[The Quiet Year] Seasons Unknown (game thread A)

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UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

quote:

For a long time, we were at war with The Jackals. Now, finally, we've driven them off, and we're left with this: a year of relative peace. One quiet year, with which to build our community up and learn again how to work together. Come Winter, the Frost Shepherds will arrive and we might not survive the encounter. This is when it will end. But we don't know about that yet. What we know is that right now, in this moment, there is an opportunity to build something.

This is Seasons Unknown (game A), a game of The Quiet Year for the following people:

UnCO3
Tyrannosaurus
Basic Chunnel

This is our turn order. Our setup thread is here.

Who are we?
We�re reindeer people in the snowy hinterlands. We hunt beasts and tend to our deer, we craft our cloaks and yurts of animal fur and drink the milk of our herd, and we live generously. Too generously, it seems. A fellow tribe here, the Jackals, asked for our aid not long ago, and betrayed us and shattered the bonds of friendship we offered. This blow to our dignity and our tribe was so severe that we called a council, erected the War Stake, and voted to go to war, to descend from the steppe we called home in a tide of vengeance and sweep away these vermin who wear the faces of men, who spit on our hospitality and kill and steal. We fell upon them, and ended the war they started.

Now we inherit their land � an island in the middle of a crater lake, with strange idols and constructs. To the Northeast of their � our � island stand the Midwives, two stone giants who bring fertility through mystic means, or so the elders say. To the Southwest on the far shore is the Satellite Eyrie, a range of metal giants who play host to a vast number of birds of an enormous number of kinds. Here the old and the new come together and it seems that this year, anything could happen.

quote:

The Satellite Eyrie
These towering metal chalices host vast flocks of birds in black, white, gold, and red plumage, from specks to raptors - they all nest up there. It's almost otherworldly, the way they take flight and move as one body, for so many separate beasts to be of one mind. It can even distract people from their daily tasks. They simply look to the Southeast every time the swarm rises, and forget themselves for a while.

quote:

The War Stake
Here we held a vote that would change us forever: to continue to follow the herd and ignore familial oaths and bonds; or to split from it, to move down from the steppes, to seek vengeance against those who spit upon the sacred rites of hospitality, those thieves, killers, deniers, who wounded us after we came to their aid. We voted. And then we demonstrated the difference between jackals and wolves.

quote:

The Midwives
These two solid structures, just over 5 mounts in height, straddle the tip of the island's northwest peninsula. Elders among the folk claim that the areas of water swept by its shadow during the day yield exceptionally robust catches of both freshwater and saltwater crustaceans at night. Folk who sleep at their feet report pleasant dreams, and pregnant women have begun pilgrimages, claiming to meet their unborn children during sleep beneath them. Any who have seen them will recognize a drawing of them, but written or spoken descriptions vary drastically from person to person, with none accepted beyond their own teller.

How do I take my turn?
First, you access the Roll20 tabletop and draw a card from the current season's deck. This will tell you to do something, often answer a question. In this custom variant, there are more than 13 cards per season. Treat the 13th card as the last one, ignoring the remaining cards in each season.

Second, you resolve the oracle instructions, changing the map and performing actions as necessary.

Third, you reduce the count of every Project by 1. When a Project reaches 0, it's finished � whoever started it describes how it ends. Projects that end prematurely due to the oracle's instructions are described by whoever drew the card.

Fourth, you take your own action (unless the oracle says that you don't act this turn) � Start a Project, Discover Something New or Hold a Discussion:

If you Start a Project, pick an appropriate duration from 1 to 6 Weeks and draw it on the map (or add an image).
If you Discover Something New, add it to the map.
if you Hold a Discussion, start out with a question or a statement. Everyone else then gets to make one statement representing a sentiment in the community. If you started with a question, you then end with another statement. Add a red dot to the map near the subject of the Discussion.

Fifth, you export the map from RealtimeBoard as an image.

Sixth, make a post in the following format:
Season and Week
Oracle question
Resolution to Oracle question, with image if you used one
Resolution to finished projects, if you started them
Your action, with image if you used one
Updated map
Projects list (mark out Projects that reached 0 this turn with e.g. bold or sirens)
Abundances list
Scarcities list
Contempt list

Game Tips

Make every turn count! We only get 40-50, so they all need to meaningfully move the story forward. Make use of existing characters where you can, and introduce and name new ones when they add something new. Say where the windfall of food comes from. Tell us the stranger's name. Reintegrate, change our circumstances, add new details, push the story forwards.
Resources are there to influence how we play, define what's reasonable for the community to do and guide their actions, rather than as traits to be min-maxed.
Abundances and Scarcities are only for when we have far more or less of something we need. Otherwise, we have just enough (or it's not important).
Intangible Resources (e.g. mercy) can be great themes, but if we focus too much on them the story can become ungrounded.
Keep it short � 2-3 sentences is good for an action or oracle resolution.
Characters are important, but the game is about the community as a whole, not just a few people.
Everything that happens must come from player actions and card draws. There are no free actions. You can add immediate consequences, but not longer-term follow-ups (unless you use another action/card).
If a card tells you to take an action (e.g. Start a Project), you still get your normal action on top of that unless explicitly told that you don't. If a card asks you to draw more cards, do so even if you cross over into the next deck.

Thread Rules

Post within 24 hours when your turn or a Discussion comes up, or let us know you're writing it. If you don't, you'll be skipped to keep things moving.
No OOC chat about the narrative content of the game (utility stuff like questions about the Roll20 tabletop is fine).
Remember to describe your finished projects (unless they get terminated prematurely) � this will usually happen on someone else's turn.
Only draw your card when you've got time to post, just in case you draw, don't have time after all and get skipped.
When you take a Contempt token, name the action that caused it.
During Discussions, just post your statement whenever you can rather than in the turn order.

UnCO3 fucked around with this message at 17:13 on Mar 10, 2019

# ¿ Mar 10, 2019 01:28

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# ¿ Apr 20, 2024 04:36

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Spring � Week 1

quote:

A place of strength is discovered. Where is it, and who finds it?

Bloody-knuckled Larsa is not the first one to find the rope on the shore, but they are the first to pull it, and so the first to startle everyone with their discovery of the great bell in the tower on the water. We heard this from afar night after night as we plotted our assault over the waters and the Jackals feasted and fattened themselves on treachery�s provender. Now their land is ours, their hold is ours, and the bell is ours, and we will ring it as we please.

Action � Start a Project: We desperately need food. Many of the birds at the great eyrie will be nesting at this time of year, and will not miss a few score eggs. A foraging party sets out to cross the lake, take stock, and see what they can pilfer without raising alarm.

Projects: Thieve eggs from the Satellite Eyrie (3)
Abundances: furs
Scarcities: caution, dairy
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

# ¿ Mar 10, 2019 01:30

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Take them home!

# ¿ Mar 10, 2019 09:41

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Spring � Week 4

quote:

Someone new arrives. Who?

She rides one of the old dead machines over the shallows, and when she sees us come out to greet her rather than shoot her down like a lynx, she rides up, takes off her helmet, and introduces herself. Asmaan.

This isn�t her first time on the island, and what little she says about that tells us that the Jackals were not the first people here, not by a long shot. Though she�s surprised � and, we can tell, disappointed � to see us here instead, she still offers us trade in barter. The only things she�s willing to give are stories and trinkets, though � not her full stock.

Action � Discover Something New: We haven�t yet opened every place the Jackals held here. Though much of their home was broken stone supporting lean-tos, there are a few well-hidden redoubts carved into the earth that the Jackals failed to reach under our assault. In one of these we find something out of place � a stone statue, smoother than a child�s skin, of a veiled woman. It doesn�t look like it belongs in the dismal hole we found it in. Asmaan refuses to go near it.

Projects:

Thieve eggs from the Satellite Eyrie (0) :siren:

Retrieve our family from the hidden caves (0) :siren:

Abundances: furs, eggs
Scarcities: caution, dairy
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

Project completed: The foragers return with plenty of food, only a little shaken from their encounter with the Ghost People.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2019 11:01

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Spring � Week 7

quote:

Our community considers one location sacred and we make regular pilgrimages to it. What is it? Mark it on the map.

Every season we make a pilgrimage to Point Theta Four Gamma, where the pilgrims commune with their ancestors.

In Spring, for their wisdom on the coming year.
In Summer, to reveal a bounty of the world.
In Autumn, to reveal a mystery of the world.
In Winter, to judge our conduct over the past year.

In all the busyness of breaking with our traditions and slaughtering the Jackals, we failed to make the pilgrimage last Winter. Our ancestors may be angry � or understanding.

Action � Discover Something New: Asmaan disappeared for a few nights, leaving her steed behind, then returned on foot from the West. She doesn�t say why she went there or what she did when she met Arban and her father, if she met them at all, even after Larsa�s best intimidation.

Projects:

Contact the Ghost People (0) :siren:

Abundances: furs, eggs
Scarcities: caution, dairy
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

# ¿ Mar 11, 2019 00:36

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Spring � Week 10

quote:

You see a bad omen. What is it?

Our ancestors are calling us, and they are displeased. They wave their cloak over the sky as if to say �you are burning your forests and slaughtering your herd�. Who has done wrong, what has been done wrong? They do not say, and we cannot say.

Action � Hold a Discussion: Who among us is worthy to make the pilgrimage? Who is our best representative? Whoever they are, they must leave as soon as possible.

Projects:

Catch some goats (0) :siren:

, Build island watchtowers (1)
Abundances: furs, eggs
Scarcities: caution, dairy
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

# ¿ Mar 11, 2019 09:00

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Surely a warrior like Larsa would be the best?

# ¿ Mar 11, 2019 15:57

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Spring � Week 13

quote:

Are there children in your community? If there are, what is their role in the community?

First, assisting with tool-making and other crafts. Fine hands make for fine work, with proper teaching.

Second, the wisdom of children. Those who are not so caught up in the ways of the world already have a wisdom all of their own. Children are often silly, yes, but sometimes there are precious stones amidst the mess they speak. Other times� well, wisdom and madness are two sides of the same leaf.

Action � Start a Project: Our strange kin to the South continue to fascinate Belek. He tries to imitate their chirping calls out of curiosity. He sketches them from memory when he is idle. He sees them across the waters and in his dreams. Eventually the itch to make contact � to really speak with them � becomes too great to bear. There�s only so much you can say with meagre gifts of food, after all. He crosses the lake the next day, taking just a few others to help with his plans.

Projects: Travel to Point Theta Four Gamma (2), Speak with the Ghost People (5)
Abundances: furs, eggs, dairy
Scarcities: caution
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

# ¿ Mar 13, 2019 03:05

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Summer � Week 3

quote:

An unattended situation becomes problematic and scary. What is it? How does it go awry?

A baby is a beautiful and terrible thing, a storm wrapped in a blanket. Thus, not everyone who dreams beneath the Midwives enjoys their dreams. At least, not at the time, even if they do look on them fondly after they wake up.

R�fi is just a few months from birth. She doesn�t wake up. The elders do what they can to save her soul, and Asmaan ministers to her body with strange tools, but she doesn�t wake up.

For now, we stay away from the Midwives.

Action � Hold a Discussion: Dreams are not to be trusted. We should allow the warriors to drink again � or exile those that wish to live apart. What will it be?

Projects: Speak with the Ghost People (2), :siren:

Watch the drummers (0) :siren:

Abundances: furs, eggs, dairy
Scarcities:
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

# ¿ Mar 14, 2019 18:24

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Then let them drink, and forget.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2019 18:53

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Summer � Week 6

quote:

Dangerous flood waters sweep someone off. Are they able to be saved?

The caustic un-knowing eats away at Belek and he pales and sickens like a diseased man. One rainy night it wraps itself around him and drags him out over the lake, over the rising marshes, and he vanishes into the mists. Larsa is the only one to spot him leaving, and even then, they don�t catch up in time, and withdraw from the tendrilline fog, and bitterly blame themselves as weak.

Action � Start a Project: The rainfall begins to erase the drummers� tracks, and our only clear clue as to where they came from before they were here, who they were before they were us, and what they were� before. Larsa, wanting to do something, anything, useful, sets out with some hunters to track the sinking footsteps.

Projects: Follow the drummers� footsteps (4)
Abundances: furs, eggs, dairy, able bodies
Scarcities:
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

# ¿ Mar 16, 2019 07:51

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Summer � Week 9

quote:

Summer is fleeting.

Discard the top two cards off the top of the deck and take two actions this week.

Action � Start a Project: With Grandmother Karakat dead and so many of us searching for her presumed killer, there are few candidates left to make the pilgrimage and so little time to do it. Aud, one of our swiftest hunters, volunteers to go alone. There�s no opposition to quell this time.

The journey will be easier on her this season, but still harder when her heart is here, with us, hunting for Asmaan. And yet, someone must go.

Action � Hold a Discussion: First the Jackals, then Belek and the Ghost People, now this � we can�t trust anyone any more.

Projects: Follow the drummers� footsteps (1), Teach Khertek and Syed to ride (1), Find Asmaan (1), Travel to Point Theta Four Gamma (3)
Abundances: furs, eggs, dairy, able bodies, fear
Scarcities:
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

# ¿ Mar 17, 2019 09:41

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Project completed: There's not much we can do with so many hunters being pulled away to search for Asmaan, but we do make one discovery - the drummers' tracks lead back to this deep, dark, and impossibly long tunnel, where muddy footprints turn into dry, bloody smears on the black ground.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2019 10:08

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Autumn � Week 1

quote:

Wild animals threaten our food supplies. How do we fight back?

Remove all food-related Abundances and start a project to reflect.

Action � Start a Project: It was lucky that we decided to prepare for the feast when we did � our communal stores of eggs and milk are infested with strange worms and other creatures that came up through the stone and down from the air. Not all is lost, and each person still has the fruits of their own labour, but even so, we must find a better place to store our food.

Action � Discover Something New: There is something in the water.

Projects:

Travel to Point Theta Four Gamma (0) :siren:

, Dig a hole (3), Hold a Memorial Feast (1), Find a safer place to store food (1)
Abundances: furs, able bodies, fear
Scarcities:
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

-

Project completed: Time has drawn new lines on Aud�s face since we saw her last a few weeks ago. Still, she comes bearing some good news:

There is a bounty laid out for the taking in the lowest of places, waiting for the righteous.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2019 21:23

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Project completed: After some searching we crack open one of the deeper doors under the surface and find a warren of tunnels, all dark, all metal. Good luck to these worms and other creatures digging through there. We leave our remaining stores just inside the entrance, along with a single torch.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2019 09:41

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Autumn � Week 4

quote:

Someone unexpectedly heals from their ailments. What scars do they bear?

She walks half-dreaming into the sun, and though she cannot see it, she feels its warmth on her face. R�fi is awake! She is awake, and yet, not awake. Through words we coax her back to us, but she is blind, part of her is caught on the other side � wherever that may be � and will not return. Liske is overjoyed, and so is R�fi when she finally understands that she�s home again. She sees in dream, now, and hears the waking world as if through ears stuffed with wadded fur, but she is awake. It�s not long before she�s exhausted, weakened as she was by long months of stillness, but perhaps she will be able to shed some light on the nature of the dreams that have plagued us since we arrived here.

This is providence � such good fortune before the heat and light fades for the rest of the year.

Action � Hold a Discussion: We should reach out to the Ghost People again. This is clearly a bleak and dangerous land and the more friends we have, the better our chances of overcoming the menaces that plague our waking and sleeping worlds. We must find them.

Projects: Gather Fuel at Splayed Hands (2)
Abundances: furs, able bodies
Scarcities:
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

# ¿ Mar 22, 2019 02:02

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Autumn � Week 7

quote:

A group goes out to explore the map more thoroughly and finds something that had previously been overlooked.

The Triplets swing wide on their way into former Ghost People territory and stumble upon a strange red-brick building nestled in the red-brown autumn growth under the Satellite Eyrie. It�s more regular in form than the towers and ruins that dot our island home, and more resistant to entry, but the Triplets cannot be denied.

Whoever lived here must have put great stock in sleep � there�s nothing but bedding, and strange beds at that, beds on wheels, beds that contort, beds that reshape.

The group returns to its original mission, perplexed.

Action � Discover Something New: The bell rings in the sunken tower. Is it just the wind, or is it calling something in?

Projects:

Contact the Ghost People (0) :siren:

, Replenish Fish Stocks (2)
Abundances: furs, able bodies, wine
Scarcities:
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

# ¿ Mar 24, 2019 09:52

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Autumn � Week 10

quote:

The strongest among you dies. What caused the death?

The bell rings again and again, rising to an incessant tempo that disrupts the birds and the fish and our herds and ruins the air and that same day, Larsa grabs the jerking rope by the shore with both hands, and pulls with terrible force, and silences the din. One of the sentries swears they saw a figure leading Larsa Southeast in the night. Another saw a light in the tower, and another a light over by the Eyrie, and another in the marsh � or perhaps they were all half-asleep and milk-drunk. All we know is, Larsa is dead the next morning. The bell rings once more.

Action � Start a Project: There is great power in these dreams, but also great danger. Our ancestors are waiting for us. Surely they will reveal some fragment of truth. Swift Aud makes the journey again.

Projects: Interrogate the Ghost Captive (3), Travel to Point Theta Four Gamma (4)
Abundances: furs, able bodies, wine, gasoline, seafood
Scarcities:
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

# ¿ Mar 24, 2019 21:04

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Reducing project timers by 2 weeks, as they weren�t reduced on a previous turn.

Autumn � Week 13

quote:

A terrible sickness spreads through the village. What part of the community is most affected?

A sleeping sickness � no, a dreaming sickness � spreads like wildfire. The first stages are not so terrible � just drowsiness and over-long sleep � but as it progresses the victims lose touch with the waking world, stagger about half-lucid, and eventually drop where the are, contorting in ways the body was not meant to move as if wracked with terrible pain. Between managing those in the earlier stages and caring for those deeper into the disease, we have few capable hands left - and we don't know what will happen next, or who will fall.

What�s strange is how little this affects the former drummers compared with the rest of us. Some suffer a little, but most are healthy still.

tata-tata-tata-tata-tata-tata-tata-tata�

Action � Hold a Discussion: How do you run from dreams?

Projects:

Interrogate the Ghost Captive (0) :siren:

Stockpile the secret caves (0) :siren:

Abundances: furs, wine, gasoline, seafood, dreams
Scarcities: able bodies
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

# ¿ Mar 25, 2019 10:03

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Someone must be to blame for this.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2019 20:58

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Winter � Week 3

quote:

You see a good omen.

What is it?

Our ancestors are angry. They have blinded the stars. Is this their aid, or just a signal of their coming? Either way, it is good.

Action � Start a Project: In the midst of all this disease and violence and death, life must go on. A few hands with time to spare set to preserving our fish with smoke and salt, to last over the winter. If we make it that far.

Projects:

Confront the One who was Arban (0) :siren:

, Preserve the seafood (3)
Abundances: furs, wine, gasoline, seafood, dreams, uncertainty
Scarcities: able bodies
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

# ¿ Mar 29, 2019 11:01

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Winter � Week 6

quote:

A great atrocity is revealed.

What is it? Who uncovers it?

�bel finds the bodies while searching through the understructure as we prepare to burn the island. Row upon row of withered, bedridden bodies, lying as if deep in dream, under old symbols of some kind, each one with a bloody hole in the head. The air smells of salt and rot. They don�t tell anyone else what they saw in the central room � we have enough anger in us as it is.

Action � Start a Project: Our ancestors protected us in a time of need, so we must honour them in return. Belek volunteers to go alone, riding a swift deer under cover of the red sky. It will be an uncomfortable journey, but we need every sleigh to help carry the sleeping sick from the island.

Projects:

Preserve the seafood (0) :siren:

Burn it all (0) :siren:

, Descend the Tower (1), Travel to Point Theta Four Gamma (5)
Abundances: furs, wine, gasoline, seafood, dreams, uncertainty
Scarcities: able bodies
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

-

Project completed: We will not go hungry over the Winter. Here's hoping.

Projects: :siren:

Burn it all (0) :siren:

, Descend the Tower (1), Travel to Point Theta Four Gamma (5)
Abundances: furs, wine, gasoline, preserved seafood, dreams, uncertainty
Scarcities: able bodies
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

# ¿ Mar 31, 2019 11:26

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Winter � Week 9

quote:

Travellers pass by in the distance. Where did they come into view, and which direction are they going in?

Syed, sleepless Syed, spots them first, and confirms them with the other sentries at the cave mouth.

Gigant spectres of some kind, striding through the night in the far East, travelling due South. Taller than any man could or should be, on foot or steed. They walk ponderously and, despite their size, silently. Whatever they are, they take no apparent note of us, and by morning light they�re gone. Or perhaps never were.

Action � Discover Something New: Cayana has recovered from her wound! She still isn�t well, her words are slurred like a drunkard�s and her body is weak like a newborn, but she is awake and knows the sound of her own name and the sight of her family. She gets better with every day. May her recovery be swift.

We haven�t told her about Vayae.

Projects: Travel to Point Theta Four Gamma (2), Care for sick (1), Compile the Histories (4)
Abundances: furs, preserved seafood, dreams, uncertainty
Scarcities: able bodies
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

# ¿ Mar 31, 2019 22:58

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

They'll come back when they're ready.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2019 06:59

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Project completed: Belek is sullen and white as snow when he returns. He doesn�t speak at first, and when he does respond to ginger questioning it comes out that it�s not our ancestors� judgment that has him so pale, but the bodies he saw down by the lake. He doesn�t want to hear our reasons, he just wants some time.

The next night, he gathers us and tells us our ancestors� final message, for this year at least.

There is one more evil to be confronted here.

-

Winter � Week 12

quote:

A sacrifice must be made to change our fortunes. Is it a thing we must destroy, or a person?

The debate is strong, but not fierce. Some say the inverse tower, others say the Midwives, yet more say the belltower that killed Larsa. A few even propose the Splayed Hands or the white deer, or the monoliths in the Ghost People�s land.

In the end, nobody can make a truly convincing argument for just one of these things. We�re tired and we have work to do and people to care for. We let go of our anger and our woe instead.

Action � Hold a Discussion: Where do we go now?

Projects: Compile the Histories (1), :siren:

Prepare for spring (0) :siren:

Abundances: furs, preserved seafood, dreams
Scarcities:
Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Tyrannosaurus (0), Basic Chunnel (0)

# ¿ Apr 1, 2019 08:07

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

I'm looking forward to it.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2019 15:50

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

And with that, conversational restrictions are limited!

I'm going to go ahead and speculate that the Frost Shepherds are literally shepherds - another nomadic community we cross paths with sometimes, maybe once a year, briefly, to trade and swap stories.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2019 16:19

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

A link for anyone curious about the extra cards we added: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DWe8DaSV5DGbWiO4s6LItW34rxP4P8eW8rtQixocedQ/edit?usp=sharing

And a discord invite for anyone who wants to join the server where we organised this, and other games: https://discord.gg/TVzHgvT

We made 8 extra cards per season except Winter, which had 7. We drew cards as if there were only 13 in each deck in total, except in Winter, where we randomly drew 1-2 cards on every turn (so that we had around the same chance of reaching the Frost Shepherds card as before), then started rationing them towards the end. In fact, we drew 19/20 of the Winter cards by the final turn. Here's how things shook out with the new cards:
4 in Spring
3 in Summer (+1 via Autumn's "the seasons are not what they once were" draw)
5 in Autumn
4 in Winter

-

A few more thoughts on the game for now:
The Frost Shepherds could also be some of the missing people come back to us, changed by what they'd experienced.

This game was a lot bloodier than previous games I've played. 5 people ended up dead and 3 disappeared seemingly forever (and 2 are gone for now), not to mention all the Ghost People we killed and the second group of drummers who died. There were times when almost every character we'd introduced was dead, missing, or comatose. Strangely enough, this happened in the game with the least internal strife (and no Contempt).

# ¿ Apr 1, 2019 17:37

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# ¿ Apr 20, 2024 04:36

UnCO3: Feb 11, 2010; Ye gods!; College Slice

Tyrannosaurus posted:

Pre-game, I thought it would be interesting to attempt two things: try to avoid violence (specifically inter-community violence) and see how the game runs when the IC community is just as new to the setting as the players are. I thought the latter ended up really neat. And it created this rather fascinating story dynamic that I'll go into greater detail in a bit.

Another aspect that differed from past games I've played was that we ended up with a somewhat-powerful, otherworldly patron in our ancestors (who or whatever they were - I liked that we never went into great detail, just had a firepit, a vague geodesic dome, and the aurora). I think every other game I've played in has positioned the community as alone, or as among other groups of similar scale and scope who have their own interests and varying friendship or hostility; either way, the only things coming from above were mystery and danger.

quote:

This was a very bloody game. Probably the bloodiest I've played. I'll have to re-read the thread to see how it flows as purely reading material but there were times as a player where it was a little jarring. We'd start to develop a character and then just as soon as they started to get interesting, we'd kill them off. And then we'd start the cycle over with a new character. Maybe that's just me, though. I wanted to play with some of the characters a little more. Continue to flesh them out. But, like I said, I'm going to re-read the thread. It's probably fine.

There were a few times where I hoped we'd get more out of a character (e.g. Asmaan, who I hoped would give us an outsider's perspective), but that has less to do with killing them off and more to do with not reintegrating enough earlier on.

quote:

Even with all the death, our community still always seemed to maintain this intense, powerful sense of identity. I liked that. From the beginning, it felt like we, the players, were all on the same page. And., conceptually, my favorite parts of this game occurred when the horrific-ness of the cosmic horror was juxtaposed against the normalcy of us just... existing. Our people were practical people living in a harsh (and increasing bizarre) environment. They never stopped being true to that or to themselves. Strangers are drowning themselves in the lake but we still need to salt meat and prepare fish. One of our leaders is murdered, yes, but we still have to make our seasonal pilgrimage. The sky is red. Sleds need to be fixed. Life goes on. I loved that.

Yeah, that was one thing I kept coming back to. For a nomadic community in a harsh world with no wider community for support, a bad winter or a volcanic eruption or just a lack of prey could be just as dangerous and overwhelming as the supernatural horror. We weren't equipped to deal with the latter, but we knew how to deal with the former, and we just had to get on with it.

quote:

The new cards were solid. They changed nothing in terms of how the game was played but added enough variation to make it feel new to me again. Plus, I kinda irrationally dislike the Parish card so not having to see it come up was great. I didn't foresee the sacred site card having such an impact. But I guess you never can tell which card will take over like that.

I think it really depends on how often whoever drew the card makes the "regular pilgrimages". If it's every week or every few weeks it'll probably fade into the background and just be something that gets referred to or built on later, but if it's every season or year it'll turn into a full-scale project or series of projects with major significance. Likewise about the cards, though. There are a few that I think might be too specific in Autumn and Winter, in that they presuppose certain things have happened or that certain types of character are present, but that can be adjusted. Overall they slotted in pretty well.

Basic Chunnel posted:

This was my first time playing - thank you all for bearing with me.

No worries, everything worked out - I'm glad you enjoyed it!

quote:

Most of the blood, I think, is on my hands. Not necessarily because I'm new to this, but because of the things I was absorbing at the time. Principally, I was getting through the first half of Voices From Chernobyl, the Nobel-winning oral history of the nuclear disaster, which heavily figures in its beginning with people who lived (and in some cases, still live) near Pripyat. It's haunting for many reasons, but I think what most filtered into this game was the perspective of the villagers. People beset by terrible poison and displaced from their homes for scant if any official reason, whose first thoughts were always "Chernobyl was awful but at least it wasn't another war", and so many of whom struggled, against everything, to maintain their way of life.

We had weird entities and magic instead of radiation, but I approached writing the community from that basic framework. The reindeer people who were going to commit to their way of life against the inexplicable and terrible. That was their virtue. I enjoyed the way that the bonds between characters formed and developed, I loved how we assimilated the drummers and didn't turn on them when they influenced the accident that injured a beloved member of the tribe. Toward the end I probably pushed too hard to give those relationships arcs with final endings.

That's cool, and I definitely see that in the game. Re: the drummers, I did like that we completely integrated them into the community. My impression from early on (especially given the different cultures we seemed to be drawing from) was that our community was a patchwork of different groups that merged over time since the collapse. The original tribe was more resilient because their technology and lives weren't so integrated into the society that fell apart, and they ended up absorbing wandering groups of refugees/survivors/whoever. That was what gave them their powerfully welcoming inclination.

quote:

Anyway, I also haven't read the thread as a "text" yet, but I really really enjoyed this, and was surprised often, which is about the best thing you can say about generative writing sessions.

Yeah, the game tends to guide the story to significantly change fairly often, whether that's sudden shocks or creeping shifts. You can't reliably plan turns ahead in great detail unless you're willing to ignore the developing story.

Lastly, I'm glad that the story ended up roughly tying together towards the end. I mean, that usually happens, but usually some time in Autumn I look at all the plot hooks lying around and wonder how we're going to make something semi-coherent out of them. Then we always connect things in Winter, with the end of the game looming.

# ¿ Apr 2, 2019 09:58

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > The Game Room > [The Quiet Year] Seasons Unknown (game thread A)